Are v brakes worth upgrading

[jackthelad]

Hi guys my wife has a a set of tektro v brakes fitted to her vita comp,after several attempts trying to adjust correctly,I am under the impression the tention spring on the right hand side of the rear brake is knackered,are these springs worth replacing or am i better tp take this opportunity to upgrade the brake to deore or deore lx.The deore online full brake for £12.75 and the deore lx £17,for full brake including pads etc.

any advice appreciated

jackthelad

 

[Hicky]

Strip the brake and check if the spring is broke or is located properly on the stantion.
I'm fairly sure they're the same brakes as my sirius, I find them good....not great but good enough.

 

[summerdays]

Hi guys my wife has a a set of tektro v brakes fitted to her vita comp,after several attempts trying to adjust correctly,I am under the impression the tention spring on the right hand side of the rear brake is knackered,are these springs worth replacing or am i better tp take this opportunity to upgrade the brake to deore or deore lx.The deore online full brake for £12.75 and the deore lx £17,for full brake including pads etc.

any advice appreciated

jackthelad

I've had the springs go twice on my 2nd bike - in both times they just went straight for upgrading the brake arm.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

second hand old style xt parallelogram link ones are as good as it gets for that money.

 

[MacB]

if they'd be needing new pads soon anyway then probably worth buying the new brakes. Otherwise I'd have a word at your LBS or visit the local tip or carboot to see what you can pick up for spares.

Take it apart first make sure it's fitted correctly and give it a clean etc to see if that helps. The better v-brakes I've used have been easy to set up and maintain. Some of the ones on the kids bikes just ended up being binned and replaced with Shimano or decent Tektro.

 

[Andy_R]

make sure that the post that the brake "arms" are mounted on are greased, and that the balancing screws are properly adjusted. if they are and it's still not working properly then look at replacing the arms, but tbh tektro do some decent v brakes. check the springs are correctly mounted too

 

[jackthelad]

guys thanks for the replies,I played about with the rear brake and got it setup ok for the time being,I took them apart then re-adjusted,but the tention spring on one side is just not adjusting correctly.To setup brakes I screw the adjuster screws in all the way,open the barrel adjusters fully open at the levers re-connect the cable tight to the rims and use the barrel adjuster to make some room between the rim and the pads.I take this so far then fine tune by the screw adjusters which moves the v brakes away from the rims,but when I do it on one side the tention adjuster just comes loose,so i have compensated by adjusting from one side.I have tried looking on google to see if you can buy the tention adjuster seperately and had no joy,maybe its because they are quite cheap that they do not sell the parts seperately.I like to buy quality when upgrading and have looked at the shimano xt.

but again I must thank the knowledge base on this site highly appreciated

jackthelad